Educational Reform
by Otspock
Summary: With a new minister comes new laws and new teachers.
1. Prolouge

Prolouge - The Upheaval

**Minister Establishes Educational Reform **

**by Edmund Radkliph**

With his appointment, the new minister, Sandy McKlean, issued new decrees regarding the

education of our youth.

"The time is coming, that the magical and the muggle world will clash. It is inevitable. The

best we can do is to prepare ourselves to be capable of adapting to a mixture of our

cultures." These are the words that Sandor, aka Sandy, used in the speech he gave

yesterday in the foyer of the Ministry of Magic. In conclusion to his speech, he gave a

description of his ideas as well as addressing the main problem he would run into in the

enacting of these decrees.

"The lessons that will become a required class are those such as english, math, sciences,

a foreign language and the fifth will be up to the teacher teaching it as long as it is approved by the

ministry. I know that these changes will be looked up on as abominal and inappropriate by the

older families of the wizarding world. There will be protests and my name will be smeared in the

very newspaper you are reading, but despite the threat of Lord Voldemort more and more

muggleborns are coming into existence and their families and friends are learning of the existence

of magic. Soon we will no longer be able to live in secrecy. I wish to make the transition easier on

our children and the following generations. I am starting this by teaching muggle subjects that also

have use in our world. The end of an era is nigh, as is the beginning of a new one. Let us embrace

it together, so that the wizarding world might emerge even stronger than it ever has before!"


	2. Meet the new teacher

Chapter One - The Arrival

"Yes Albus, Martina should be arriving at any moment." Minerva McGonagal told the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, as they sat with the rest of the staff at a large, rectangular table within the Great Hall during breakfast. It was July the 20th, and the whole staff had arrived a month earlier in order prepare for the upcoming year with all of its changes.

"How long have you known the woman?" Harry Potter, the DADA teacher asked.

"I have known her for 18 years now, although I haven't actually ever spoken with her, we always exchanged correspondence."

"You are depending our lives on the words of a woman who might have lied to us." Severus Snape, the potions teacher, sneered.

"She sent me a letter as a young child asking if she was magical. Through her letters she matured, but always remained someone you wanted to know." Minerva replied. Then, there was a tentative knock on the door of the Great Hall. With a wave of Dumbledore's wand, the door opened to reveal a nervous-looking brunette, staring in awe at all that was around her.

"Is Minerva McGonagal here?" She asked. Her voice was loud and carried well through the large room, despite her short stature.

"Martina!" Minerva said, standing up and going towards her.

"Minnie!" Martina cried, running toward her long-time pen pal and drawing her into her arms.

"I am so glad to finally be able to meet you!"

"Oh, Marty, you are just like I thought you would be."

Martina laughed. "I'm sorry to disillusion you, but you aren't."

"Oh?" Minerva's eyebrow went up in puzzlement.

"Yes, I thought you would be this old grandmotherly type, kind of like that guy with the long beard over there." At this sentence you could hear an auditble intake of breath as half the staff's eyes darted back and forth from the new Muggle Studies teacher and the Headmaster.

"Martina." McGonagal said, leading the young woman toward the table. "I would like to introduce you to the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore."

"Oh, Mr. Dumbledore, what a pleasure it is to finally meet you. My name is Martina Delfie, please no wise cracks about elfs in the dell. I would like to apply for the position of . . . . (Minerva, what is it called? Oh!) Muggle Studies Professor." Everyone was amazed to see the ever present twinkle in the Headmaster's eyes operating at full force.

"Ms. Delfie, it is a pleasure to meet you. Minerva has told us much."

Whirling on the transfigurations Professor, she exclaimed: "You didn't tell them about the Trellis incident, did you?"

"You mean the one about the man eating climbing roses and your latest suiter? No, I did tell them about the time you wished to be taller though."

"What!" She shrieked, her cheeks and amazing shade of scarlet.

"Oh, Minerva, stop teasing the girl! I personally thought the story hadn't been all that amusing. Even though my sides ached for days afterward." Dumbledore said, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Now, Ms Delfie, you have come highly recommended and I welcome you to the Hogwarts staff. Please take a seat here next to me and tell me of your plans."

"Well, if it is possible. I would like each student to have my class three times a week except for the 7th years. I will be teaching these classes with all the houses put together. The way I had hoped to do it was 1st-4th on Mondays, 5th-7th and 1st on Tuesdays, 2nd-5th on Wednesdays, 6th 7th 1st and 2nd on Thursdays and 3rd-6th on Fridays."

"Why would the 7th years have your class only twice?" Mr. Potter asked.

"I figure that they will need more time to study for their graduation exams. I will be splitting the sessions in half except for the 3rd one to accommodate all subjects, unless of course we have a particularly difficult subject we are going through. The first session will be split between math and english. The second will be between science and a second language of the class's choice. They will be able to choose between French, Spanish and German. The 3rd session will be mainly music, strings to be exact, with a bit of study time so that I can help them with anything they might be having trouble with from the previous sessions."

"It sounds as though you have thought this through thoroughly and know exactly what you want to do." Dumbledore said.

"This plan of yours, will only give the students a taste for the subjects, though, won't it. It will not thoroughly cover everything." Potter said.

"You are correct." Martina replied. "However, when the students begin with this in their first year, they will have a better understanding. Perhaps in years to come, we can offer after third year a more thorough course that the student can take. Perhaps make one mandatory. This is after all, a trial year. We will learn what can and cannot be done as time goes on."

There wasn't any protestation that could be made to that statement. None that were rational anyway. The rest of dinner was spent in going over the fine details and explaining more about the wizarding world and how the school was run. School was set to start in two weeks and Martina was greatly looking forward to it.


End file.
